Yet another off topic from you know who. Down here is a dump of ideas that have been stuck in my head. Basic idea is a sort of critique of superhero films in the eyes of what might be portrayed as villains in any other media. Might have elements used in other shows and whatever but really liked the idea in my head. Dump starts here:
main character growing up loves superheroes; near worship
recent years due to ousted heroes doing it for fame and fortune (callouts, selling out for albums and hiding information regarding scandals of heroes, etc.), breaking point is superhero sponsoring to them after saving him/her from a robbery (can be famous or obscure)
picked up by activist group after growing interest, who use him/her secretly as a vessle to form the first supervillain
main character is down on his luck and snarky, yet he is nervous on everything. He/she has infinite knowledge regarding superheroes and how they work and sees them for what he/she thinks they truly are: human. Revelation can be built up slowly throughout the first act with the sponsor hero, mentioned earlier, breaking him/her to where the optimism and myth of superheroes is no longer present. Joins activist group as he is approached by them one day and after the group sees him/her making an intimidating speech they put him on costume, slowly making it more like a stereotypical comic book villain (you can interpret this as a pseudo Dr Doom, Galactus, Darkseid, Lex Luthor, etc. kind of person) and, while morals are twisted in the process from fighting for good to thinking for only the humans, not necessarily all, built up confidence and is less snarky and more serious
can explore both sides: superheroes would be metaphor of social media stars regarding callout culture, mental health (addiction, attention seeking, etc.) and their unstable income thanks to regulations being set in place regularly. Some heroes do it just for fame and the others for genuine good. Both deal with loosely regulated rules: fame heroes exploit it while good heroes may be let down by a lack of enforcement, allowing less than good heroes to rise in the ranks
on the flip side, activist group can be more like a metaphor on activist groups and see both sides of said groups: the good regarding their beliefs on equality and accountability for those perceived more powerful than them, while the bad is the extremes given to get attention like violent protests, agendas becoming twisted for their beliefs,etc. Both sides are portrayed equally; neither are worse than the other, and to have the situation be less black and white
other characters include some sort of neutral character, perhaps anti-hero or a prophet like person, neither siding with the heroes or the activist group instead warning both sides of what the so called prophet thinks would cause their downfall
ending has a major league of superheroes (think Avengers or Justice League) lambasted by the public and media when catching and torturing supervillain, with the banning of superheroes being put into place by the UN or whatever major peace org that has power we can make up. Supervillain despite winning feels empty as he looks out as a crowd celebrates the passing of the law, with fate being interpreted by audiences
ends here
I think can also have the community here also share their random ideas. Doesn’t have to stick to a specific medium: can be books, tv, movies, and good ol’ games